This post reviews operation of TTC service on the 54 Lawrence East bus and its express equivalent, 954, for September 2024. It continues on the work of building new charts including crowding data that began in the previous article on 35/935 Jane.

In response to suggestions, there are a few changes in the charts here.

• The shade of red used for crowded buses has been darkened.
  • A reader suggested using a colour palette with a common base such as a light, medium and dark taupe. I experimented with it, but found the contrast for fine lines against a white background did not work well, especially on small displays.
• New charts showing the distribution of headways along the route and over time have been added.
  • The scheme used is intended to give comparable information to a histogram, but on a more compact basis that makes changes along routes easy to see.

Summary of the 54/954 Lawrence East bus review:

• Service on 54 Lawrence is unreliable with much bunching and gapping during many periods, especially toward the eastern end of the line.
• Bunching caused by unregulated “blending” of the two branches (54A to Starspray and 54B to Morningside) is chronic. (This is a common problem on branching routes.)
• Crowding during off-peak periods generally occurs on buses that are running in a gap.
• Groups of buses commonly stay together for extended periods, including terminal departures, rather than being spaced apart to minimize gaps.
• Late evening service on the eastern end of the route is quite erratic, and there was a repeated wide gap on most days in the period reviewed here.
• The 954 express service has relative little crowding and much more reliable headways than the local service.
• This route is a textbook example of abdication of route management. The tracking data shows little sign of congestion compared to some other routes, and bunching is a common operating practice.